


epithet

by Infinitree



Category: Kung Fu Panda - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Oneshot, Pre-Established Friendship, let me tell you about my crackship brotp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-15
Updated: 2016-10-15
Packaged: 2018-08-22 04:02:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8272031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Infinitree/pseuds/Infinitree
Summary: In which the Soothsayer reads up on the Dark Warrior.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Note: This is a mirror, it was originally posted on June 2016 as _DRABBLE #10_ on Tumblr.
> 
> Two weeks in the Philippines gives me a lot of writing time.
> 
> And do you know how many variants of “Soothsayer vaguely knows of/figures out Oogway’s warlord-general past and the latter screams internally” hurt-comfort/they just talk it out fics I have? _Three_. And this is the most coherent one, which is really saying something.
> 
> If you’re wondering why this ends as abruptly as it does, it’s because I didn’t really have an ending in mind. So I figured I should cut it short.

On most nights, the Tower of Sacred Flame was silent. It hadn’t housed permanent residents ever since the death of the noble peacock family, and instead was more of a monument to their legacy.  


However, that did not mean that its facilities were left unused. In the quiet of the night, the Soothsayer was perusing the Tower’s rather extensive archives with a candle in hand. 

A comet had appeared in the sky yesterday, and she’d rather not let fate surprise her during this point in time. A celebration in honor of the invention of kung fu was coming up in less than two days, and the fact that Oogway was coming here this year was taking its toll on the Master’s Council.

With that in mind, some consultation with notes from past court soothsayers would help with the preparations.

Unfortunately, whoever had been tasked with sorting the scrolls was terrible at their job. It was merely divided by what occurred in the current nobility’s rule. _Just_ that.

Meaning that she was left to scrounge for the scrolls she needed in the space dedicated to Lord Yu, who ruled Gongmen more than five hundred years ago.

In the candlelight, the Soothsayer squinted angrily at yet _another_ census scroll. She placed it back where she originally found it and pulled out another one at random.

Unfortunately, two more scrolls fell out as a result of that. Well, it wasn’t like she _wasn’t_ going to check these, she thought with a shrug.

The original scroll the Soothsayer had picked up had a long-broken wax seal. The symbol emblazoned on it was unfamiliar to the old goat. From what little she unrolled, it was a treaty between Gongmen and a warring group.

Second was notes on the casualties. She gulped, looking at the large numbers found dead. Or missing. It was presumably related to the previous scroll, if the dates on them were accurate.

At the third, she grinned. The Soothsayer barely rolled it open and a star chart was peeking out. She rolled it out to reveal a sky that appeared more than five hundred years ago.

At the center was a comet, along with more notes from a court soothsayer from the distant past. _In this case, the correlation between the comet and particular moon phase in this chart is auspicious_ , it said.

In smaller print-- as if an afterthought, it continued. _I worry for the troops facing against General Oogway’s army._

The Soothsayer stared at the set of characters incredulously. Then read it again. And again, as if it would change the ink-scrawled characters that spelled the tortoise’s name.

It didn’t.

The old goat looked back to the other scrolls that she previously skimmed over before unfurling the treaty in full this time. It held an agreement that, if she was right, really wasn’t upheld this day and age. 

From what she could gather, the group had nearly won. Both sides had lost a lot during the battle, however Gongmen had been prospering at that age. The suzerain’s army had quickly retaliated once they got their bearings and clenched victory in their grasp.

She skipped to the end. Her mouth was agape as she read the signature.

_From the desk of General Oogway, the Dark Warrior._

* * *

Finally, the day of festivities had dawned on the portside city and the entire Council took a collective sigh of relief as it went on without a hitch. In the dusk tinted skies, a tortoise and a goat snuck out of the afterparty held in the Tower to get some fresh air.

“It’s been hectic,” the Soothsayer said with exaggerated exasperation. “Personally, I went as far as to make sure that today would be favorable.”

Oogway chuckled under his breath. “That doesn’t surprise me.”

She elbowed the tortoise in the side of his carapace. “I was worried that the comet from a few days ago would be a bad sign-- I even had to cross reference some things from the archives.”

“Really? So what did they say?” he drawled out. It looked like he was expecting something, with how tight-lipped his smile was.

The Soothsayer froze for a moment, thinking to the footnote beside the studies. “Standard astrology, that certain phases of the moon in conjunction to the comet in question is a bad omen,” she explained. “For instance, the particular combination from five hundred years ago was rather auspicious…”

The other furrowed his brows. “Is that right.”

“Well, I assume so,” she mumbled with an awkward grin. “Why would it be in the archives if it weren’t--”

The tortoise sighed. “You do not need to play oblivious for my sake.”

“ _Oblivious?_ ” she echoed.

“Just as you are able to read my tells, I am able to read yours,” he said cryptically. “I know you’ve seen the records of… what I’ve done all those years ago.”

Before the old goat could refute his claims, the words quickly died in her throat. He gave her an intense glare, one that didn’t fit the doddering sage.

_But perhaps fit a former general_ , she thought.

“…What am I supposed to say,” the Soothsayer said finally. The tortoise had been acting strangely ever since the topic came up-- even for him, and she couldn’t get a read of what he wanted out of this.

As a leader, the idea of something that huge getting leaked would be a very notable stain on his reputation as a martial pacifist. And she need not ask about the myriad of enemies he had built up the past few centuries that could very well use that smear campaign to their advantage.

So why was Oogway admitting it to her?

“Just…” He smacked his lips, opening his mouth before closing it promptly. “What do you think of all this?” 

She looked at him incredulously. “ _What_?”

“I said, what do you think of--”

The Soothsayer brought up a hoofed hand to stop him. “No, I understood you the first time,” she said, giving him a scrutinizing glance. “Why do you care about what I think, anyway?”

He paused for a moment, wringing the peach tree staff in his hands. _Strange_ , the old goat thought. She never saw him perform this tic before.

“Because we’re _friends_ ,” he ventured. However, the way he said it made the last syllable turn up as if it were a question.

The words hung in the air for a moment.

“I suppose it makes sense,” she began. “Your combat background, in an age before you invented kung fu, needed to have come from _somewhere_.”

He frowned, but regardless stayed silent about his views on the matter. A contemplative _hm_ rang in the air.

“But at the same time, I’m confused.” The Soothsayer began to stroke her beard contemplatively. “In no part of any history scrolls mention you being in the military, and yet I find records of you nearly bringing Gongmen to its knees!”

His free hand was twitching, wanting to do something else to try and hide its nervousness. It settled with tracing the grooves on his staff. “The people wanted to forget, to move on, and I simply _let_ them.”

It was clear that he wasn’t just talking about letting people forget what transpired in Gongmen. “But what about you?”

“…What about me?” The tortoise looked confused, as if unused to thinking about putting _his_ needs first for once.

“Do you still… think about it?” she clarified.

“Considerably less than I did centuries ago,” he mumbled with a shrug.

That was essentially a _yes_ in Oogway-speak. He looked askance, as if admitting his weaknesses was a morally reprehensible act.

The old goat sighed, settling her weight on her cane as she did so. “First and foremost, look at me,” she said softly, waiting for him to turn his head. “There is no shame in thinking back to those times.”

“I know, it’s just…” the tortoise paused, giving her an unsure glance. “It has been a while.”

_Since I’ve talked about this to someone_ were the unspoken words. 

The Soothsayer figured as much. To always seem infallible was the price of being recognized and praised as a leader of the people. As a member of the noble courts _and_ the Master’s Council, she was no stranger to such a phenomenon.

“Look, I don’t really… _understand_ what you’ve done all those years ago, but I’m willing to do so.” She coughed into a closed fist awkwardly. “If you’re alright with it-- if you need to vent about past matters, I’m willing to extend my professional services as a soothsayer to you.”

There was a moment of silence as the tortoise came to a quiet realization-- something he was rather embarrassed to take this long to understand. “But… I don’t wish to speak to you as a soothsayer,” he ventured. “I want to speak to you.”

The irony of those words wasn’t lost on either of them. Both tortoise and goat let out soft stutters of laughter, the latter of which went on a bit longer than anticipated.

He furrowed his brows, not quite sure what to make of this.

“I’m sorry, it’s just that the thought of you in military armor?” she explained. “Kind of hilarious-- I mean, isn’t that somewhat _redundant_?”

The tortoise let out a snort of laughter. “Yeah, I was what you would call… a _real_ piece of work,” he said before murmuring, “Went as far as to custom fit it with spikes.”

Once again they were brought into a fit of laughter, much louder than the last.

**Author's Note:**

> Oogway's title is connected to the [Black Tortoise](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Tortoise), which is called the _Black Warrior_ in certain areas in East Asia. I was kind of hoping someone would have figured it out, but I digress.


End file.
